After such a great time last Memorial Day with Craig and John at Tom’s Place, we knew we wanted to go back.  It’s official now, this has to be a yearly tradition. The 395 through the Eastern Sierras is a beautiful drive, a part of California we don’t get to see enough. This year the snow made it even more spectacular.

Nikki, Elliott, Brody and Grace joined us along with Lucy, and so did Craig and John, Candace and Craig, and Connie and Jim.  We had 5 sites in a row but it’s so wooded there we also had lots of privacy.  We brought Chuckie and his Bride of course and got a kick out of the looks we got as people passed by.

We started out having the pot roast dinner at the Tom’s Place restaurant on Friday night then enjoyed breakfasts and dinners together at camp.  During the day some would take off to hike at Convict lake or fish.  Gary hiked 3 miles around Convict with no pain.   Evenings were spent enjoying combined-effort dinners and sitting around the campfire complaining about aches and pains and reminiscing about the crazy things some of us did as kids…not me of course 🙂

Grace and Brody climbed this tree about 100 times each!

Since this is dry camping, and we had 6 people with us, we bought a free standing shower tent with a shower bag.  Coolest invention ever.  The special bag, once filled with water, warms up in the sun and has a shower hose that delivers 3 gallons of warm water for a very nice shower.  Brody used it and thought it was pretty cool.  Nikki got in some much desired reading time and relaxation, and they all played Forbidden Island all night long one night.

On Sunday while others were hiking, we rode around with Craig and John and dreamed of living up there in God’s country.  It’s so pretty and remote.

Nikki, Elliott, the kids, and Lucy had a great time and got in some hiking as well!

Lucy was in her element, and particularly loved the rushing water.

On our way home we stopped at Copper Top BBQ for lunch with Craig and John.  Had to run across the 395 YIKES but it was worth it 🙂

Another successful camping trip with lots of memories made and this time with family and more friends!  I hope next year will include GEM!